Book Review - The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov

 

This was an extraordinary read, not only because this was the first novel by a Kyrgyz writer I'd read, but also this was my first encounter with the blending of realism and science fiction in a novel.

In this novel, two parallel story lines are woven into the narrative. One is about the trials and tribulations of living in the harsh, windswept steppe of the Sarozek desert in Kazhakstan and one man's determination to uphold certain traditional burial rites and to seek justice for his dear friend who's been wrongly accused of a crime. In juxtaposition to this story line is an account of two astronauts' strange space encounter with an alien civilization while working under a joint space program undertaken by the U.S. and Russia, which encounter causes the two countries' collaboration to collapse.

The blending of the two story lines is symbolic of the disparity between humanity (with all its attachment to cherished cultures and conflicted morals) on the one hand and, on the other, scientific progress founded on mankind's thirst for knowledge, only ironically marred by its fear of the unknown.

While I found the premise to be an interesting one, the narrative style tends to drag the story out. Overall, I'd give it 3.7 stars.

 

ACWW's 30th Anniversary Celebration

 

 

On Sunday May 4, I had the honor and pleasure of joining the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop's 30th anniversary ( + its president Todd Wong's birthday) celebrations. 

 

At the celebratory dim sum lunch event, I also had the chance to talk about some interesting specifics related to the wuxia genre (like the earliest wuxia story ever written and the origin of 'qinggong'), and introduce my wuxia-myth Sword Maiden from the Moon duology (i.e. The Heavenly Sword and The Earthly Blaze).

 

ACWW has always been a friendly and supportive writers' group and I cherish being a part of it.

 
 

The Earthly Blaze Eligible for Nomination for CSFFA's 2025 Aurora Award for Best Novel

 

 

I'm pleased to say that The Earthly Blaze (Sword Maiden from the Moon, #2) has been confirmed eligible for nomination for CSFFA's 2025 Aurora Award for Best Novel!

 

This Sword Maiden duology is an epic wuxia story woven with Chinese mythology and speculative history with themes of family love, fellowship loyalty, fighting injustice, loss, sacrifice and kungfu rivalry.

 

The wuxia genre is a niche subgenre of fantasy in the English book world. If you want to support this genre of Chinese literature reaching a wider Anglosphere audience, you could help by nominating The Earthly Blaze!

 

Here's the Eligibility List! You need to be a member of CSFFA in order to nominate and later vote for any title (annual membership dues is only C$10). 

 

The deadline for nomination is April 5, 2025.

 

Book Review - A Deadly Secret by Jin Yong

 

 

This was the first time I read this short wuxia novel. When I was about halfway through, a thought hit me: "This sounds so familiar!" The way the story went reminded me of Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo. It has the same dark themes of betrayal, revenge, greed and corruption, and the similar plot line where the protagonist is framed and wrongly accused, losing the love of his life to his enemy in the process, and where he stumbles on a treasure find. But of course the historical settings and plot details are totally different. Being a wuxia novel, there are the usual wuxia tropes of martial arts rivalry, struggle against injustice, secret manual, violent conflicts etc.

Apparently Jin Yong himself admitted that this story had been inspired by the said French classic. It was also based on an incident that he had witnessed as a child that had haunted his memory ever since.

Regardless, the short novel was a rather moving read with a core moral theme of fighting prejudices and bigotry.
 

International Women's Day - Celebration of Tang Sai'er

 

On this International Women's Day, let's celebrate Tang Sai'er's dauntless wuxia spirit and her valiant cause of liberation from tyranny!

Honored that both The Heavenly Sword and The Earthly Blaze are 2024 Indie Ink Award Finalists in the category Writing the Future We Need: Asian Representation by an Asian Author.

 

 

The Sword Maiden Duology are 2024 Indie Ink Awards Finalists!

 

 

Both The Heavenly Sword (Book 1) and The Earthly Blaze (Book 2) in the Sword Maiden from the Moon duology are FINALISTS in the category "Writing the Future We Need: Asian Representation by an Asian Author" of the 2024 Indie Ink Awards.

 

From February to July the contest will be in the reading phase (i.e. judges will read the books that are finalists and choose a winner in each category). Winners will be announced in August 2025.

Indeed, we do need a future with much more Asian representation by authentic Asian voices in the English book world, where Asian representation is dominated by those whitewashed Big Five quasi-Asian authors who don't speak their root culture's language.

 

 
 

Sword Maiden Duology on Local Shelf of Bookazine's Tai Kwun Branch

 

 

 

On my recent Hong Kong trip, I made it a point to visit the new Bookazine Tai Kwun branch that was opened a little while ago. Tai Kwun 大館 is the newly transformed arts and culture hub in the Central District. The premises formerly housed the Hollywood Road Central Police Station & Prison and were refurbished to become the elegant arts center of today.

 

On the day of my visit, the place was packed with locals and tourists who came to admire the lovely Christmas decorations and browse around the various interest points (like the Aura Art workshop, two bookshops, the heritage museum, the Japanese tea ceremony workshop etc.) Besides Bookazine, there's another bookshop on ground level, which is Taschen Books from Germany, the renowned publisher/bookseller of luxury art-books. It felt like Tai Kwun is going to be a magnet for people who like books and the arts.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find my recently published Sword Maiden wuxia-myth duology (The Heavenly Sword + The Earthly Blaze) right on the LOCAL shelf of the Bookazine shop! I also spotted a few popular Hong Kong-themed books by other Hong Kong authors, like Jason Ng's Hong Kong Noir, Janice Lee's The Expatriates and Larry Feign's The Flower Boat Girl. As it is well-known that Hong Kong is the birthplace of Jin Yong's and Liang Yusheng's famous wuxia novels, it seems that my wuxia duology is placed on the appropriate "Local" bookshelf and in the right locale (as shown in photos above)! It is fully my intention to have my two books carry on the Hong Kong wuxia legacy, as well as to promote the genre to the Euro-American audience!

 

 

On separate occasions, I also made my rounds to Bookazine's IFC and Prince's Building branches, and was glad to see my books displayed as shown in the two photos above.